No Need for the SAT - Admissions Change - Positive Impact on Education

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Development
• Date: Oct 6,2008

Last weekend 5,500 college admissions officials and high school guidance counselors were at a conference hosted by the National Association for College Admissions. The biggest presentation at the conferences was that given by Mr. Fitzsimmons, the admissions dean at Harvard. (1)

Fitzsimmons spoke of the inaccuracy of the SAT at predicting academic success. The SAT fails to recognize socioeconomic differences. A student from a wealthy family can afford to get a payed tutor, where as the lower income student has limited resources, going to a quality high school is difficult enough for lower income students let alone hiring a tutor. (1)

Finally! It seems that this idea is finally being accepted by colleges. It took these guys long enough. I knew the SAT was inaccurate when I took it a few years ago.

Photo by -Marlith-

The College Board’s Definition of Change

The College Board’s reaction to this “realization” is not to eliminate the SAT all-together, but to drastically change the test to include multiple areas of strengths. (2)

There are 12 qualities that the College Board is currently focusing on. These qualities have been determined by the Group for Research and Assessment of Student Potential.

The qualities include:

• Knowledge, learning, mastery of general principles
• Continuous learning, intellectual interest and curiosity
• Artistic cultural appreciation and curiosity
• Multicultural tolerance and appreciation
• Leadership
• Interpersonal skills
• Social responsibility, citizenship and involvement
• Physical and psychological health
• Career orientation
• Adaptability and life skills
• Perseverance
• Ethics and integrity

(Find descriptions of the qualities here.)

But a successful student will not need to be outstanding in all of these categories, according to Pamela T. Horne, dean of admissions at Purdue University. She clarifies saying that, “In College admissions, we don’t just care about what students bring to the table, but we are building a class of different talents.” (2)

What about Graduate Programs? LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, GRE, etc.

If there will be changes in the process of undergraduate admissions, could there be changes in graduate admissions? An article from Inside Higher Ed suggests that changes may occur. The University of Michigan’s law school will begin admitting a limited amount of students without considering LSAT scores.(3)

The students who can skip out on the LSAT must already be undergraduate students at the university and have a minimum of a 3.8 GPA.

The school has received much criticism for its decision, but Lawrence R. Velvel, the dean of the school, argues that the LSAT “is all about elitism — it’s about saying your law school is better than another law school because you have better LSAT scores.” (3)

The Dramatic Change - Being Set Free from the Chains of Standards

The day students no longer need to concern themselves with scoring well on the SAT, things can really begin to change in the education system. Getting ride of the current SAT, will allow teachers put less focus on standards and more focus on preparing students for the future.

As Mr. Fritzsimmons said:

“It would be much better for the country to have students focusing on high school courses that, based on evidence, will prepare them well for college and also prepare them well for the real world beyond college, instead of their spending enormous amounts of time trying to game the SAT.” (2)

My suggestion is that instead of preparing students for standardized tests at the beginning of a students freshmen year they meet with a project counselor, and the student will begin to work on a four year project, such as a service project or inventing something. No matter what the project is the student will be forced to research necessary material, use and develop skills, and coordinate with other students and people. And I have the feeling it would be very enjoyable for all students.

If this was the requirement for graduating High School and being admitted to a university, we would be creating high quality citizens, able to create a better world.

As it goes for graduate studies, I have seen people spend countless hours studying for some exam GRE, MCAT, etc. But these are capable people, they should be spending their time changing the world instead of studying for some inefficient exam.

Will Change Happen?

So is all this talk about changing the SAT just talk? Or will things actually change? Well as of now more than 280 colleges do not require test scores for admissions. So some progress is being made.

However, there is a billion-dollar test-prep industry that is sure to fight against any change. (4)

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Get the point?

What’s Your Opinion?

I would love to hear everyone’s opinion about this. Do you think the SAT is necessary? Can we go without using it? Or will it always remain an inconvenient necessity? What other choices are there? What about graduate and professional degrees?

Cal Newport wrote a post about this topic last week and several readers had excellent responds.

Sources

• (1) Study of Standardized Admissions Tests Is Big Draw at College Conference - NACAC
• (2) If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em - Inside Higher Ed
• (3) A Crack in the Dominance of the LSAT? - Inside Higher Ed
• (4) College Panel Calls for Less Focus on SATs - New York Times
• Download the full NACAC Report